Ending Rewrite Need Response ASAP SHOOT SCHEDULED TOMORROW

[nedamina]

Hello,

I have already shot the beginning of my film (a project for my film class, which is due in a week, and that we were given only two weeks to complete...ugh), and I have plans to shoot the ending of my screenplay tomorrow (plans which can not be changed) and as I was looking over what we'd previously shot, I realized that the ending no longer fits. Basically, I feel like the lesson isn't conveyed as clearly as I'd like it to be.

Sypnosis: My main character is shy, nervous, insecure, and has always been jealous of her best friend. At a party, she witnesses that very friend kissing her boyfriend. She enlists the drug-addicted ex-boyfriend of her best friend to break the girl's heart, as he had done in the past, in an effort to get revenge on her best friend. Well, things go horribly wrong, and my main character witnesses the rape of her best friend at the hands of her best friend's ex, from behind a cracked door. She runs out just as the rapist leaves, and I'm stuck with the two of them outside, about to have a conversation about what just took place.

For the life of me, I can't come up with an ending, but I know I can't end it there.
I wrote my main character as someone with emotional issues, but that certainly doesn't excuse her involvement in the situation, and I need her to understand that she simply went too far in getting her revenge. The actions of her best friend do not require justification, so I need to focus on the criminals: my main character and the rapist she enlisted. The rapist is introduced as a drug-addict, and he has chosen his drugs over his ex (my main character's best friend) many times in the past. He is completely unapologetic, but even he never intended to take things this far. He lost control, and even though he admits that, I don't think that's enough, and I want him to learn something, too. Now on to my main character: she never anticipated that this would happen, but now she's seen it, and she needs to understand that her actions greatly outweigh her friend's. She isn't someone who can apologize easily, and she pushed the ex-boyfriend when he outright told her how stupid her plan for revenge was, and how hypocritical it was that she wasn't going after her own boyfriend as well. She needs to be told what she did was wrong, basically, but I can't find anyone to tell her. I could have it come from the rapist, but I fell like my audience would be put off by that. I certainly would. I want them both to learn something, but my main character isn't in any position to teach a lesson. I can't have her go back into the house and apologize, because that would be totally out of character, as well as . . . just unnatural that she would confess to quickly. Guilt needs time to fester, but I only have 10-minutes.

So what I'm asking is, how can I make it clear that both my characters understand that they went too far? The end-goals are different for both of them (the rapist is ultimately responsible for his own actions, and will have to either say that he knows that, or learn that from someone. my main character must be told of her own involvement in this situation, because at this point, she is denying all responsibility. we also need to be told that she wasn't really out for revenge over the situation with her best friend kissing her boyfriend. It was all the years of jealousy, and this gave her an excuse, basically.), but I need a scene or two (I can have one before the rape, and one after) so that I can teach these lessons to my characters and my audience.

Thank you! Please respond ASAP!

 

[barnaclelapse]

I could be reading this wrong, but it sounds to me like the boyfriend would learn his lesson simply through the course of events. I guess you could have him run into an old friend who mentions off-hand something about his behavior that brings everything home for him. He is shown somehow the long-term consequences of something he did in his past, and he applies that knowledge to the present and realizes that he's more or less doomed as a human being.

The girl? I'm not sure. It could be something that really brings home the difference in her life between when the rape occurred and the present. Something that makes her realize what she's lost. A lot of things can trigger that kind of realization. I think it's a pretty good punishment for a character when they realize there's no going back to the way things used to be. It's like trapping them in limbo, and you can show the agony that it's going to be when the credits have rolled of just trying to exist with those kind of thoughts in your head.

Sorry if that wasn't much help.

 

[nedamina]

Actually, that was quite a lot of help. (:
I see what you meant about the boyfriend, and about the girl, well, I think that's something I can write quickly enough . . .

Anyway, thank you for responding so quickly!

 

[JakeSully]

I ZAID NOZING.

 

[Michael Allen]

I think she should attack him. Throw punches and cry. He's committed a terrible crime. He could know he's gone to far when she says she will tell the police and her part in it can also come out on the lawn for all to hear. Maybe even her best friend can be there to hear the conversation.

 

[steve gelder]

Would it be too overly-dramatic if the rape victim were to have an immediate response, like going to the roof of the house and jumping, or attempting to kill herself, due to the trauma? That might illustrate to the attacker and the girl who planned it the kind of harm their actions caused...


gelder

 

[FantasySciFi]

Keep with the momentum.

Have her run out into the alley and collapse against a wall. Have him come out coolly, with a smile. Have him approach her. He wants to know how she's going to 'repay' his services. He's clearly high. He starts coming on to her. She struggles but he's stronger. It becomes clear he's going to rape her as well. He and she exchange the details of her plan. Build the intensity as he starts stripping her, she screams and then ... he goes cold. He spins about and we see the knife in his back. Her girlfriend is standing there staring, clothes ripped, in tears. He stumbles and falls to the ground. The two girls stare at each other. Her girlfriend, having heard her confession/exchange stands there. And they ....

Now the "reveal" has been made and you are at a powerful moment where the two women have both confronted a powerful enemy now dead at their feet. What will they do?